on 07-11-2009 02:39

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN and BRENDAN McGAIR

PAWTUCKET — The Red Sox’ prized, right-handed pitching prospect, Clay Buchholz, currently on the PawSox pitching roster, found himself victimized by a pair of thieves who stole the tires and rims off of his car early Friday morning.

According to Pawtucket Police, a caller at a downtown apartment complex reported hearing a car alarm going off at around 4 a.m. inside a black BMW belonging to Buchholz.
When police arrived, they found Buchholz’ car resting on bricks, with two passenger side wheels and rims missing.
Buchholz told The Times on Friday that the thieves “took the bolts off all the tires and jacked it up.”
“The alarm goes off if it senses the car is moving,” he said. “It went off and they got two tires.”
Detectives Major Arthur Martins said that a witness told police he saw two black males flee the area with the tires and rims. He said that a short while later, police stopped a vehicle with two male occupants on George Street matching the descriptions of the suspects.
“Somebody in our complex looked out the window as the alarm was going off,” Buchholz said. “They called the cops and they caught them down the road within five minutes.”
Police confirmed that they recovered the tires, rims and lug notes that had been taken from Buchholz’ BMW. “I picked up my wheels (Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon) at the police department and had somebody come by (the apartment) to put them back on,” Buchholz said.
The two suspects, both from Pawtucket, were identified as Airton Monteiro, of 52 Centre St., 2nd, and Tony Reverdes, of 172 Magill St., apt. 2. Both were charged with theft of motor vehicle parts.
“I think it happened between 4 and 4:45 [in the morning]. I’m all the way on the backside (of the apartment complex), so I wouldn’t have been able to hear,” Buchholz said. “They are stock rims. The funny thing is that those wheels wouldn’t have fit on any other car. I don’t think they would have made much money.”
It was not the first time Buchholz had been victimized while pitching in the minor leagues. “My whole car was stolen when I was in Delaware [pitching for Single-A Wilmington in 2006],” he noted.